Eight Maryland Heritage Areas Authority Grants Awarded to Local Heritage Projects
The Hogan administration recently announced that 114 matching grants totaling $5.1 million were awarded to Maryland nonprofits, local jurisdictions, and other heritage tourism organizations by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority (MHAA). These FY21 funds support heritage tourism projects and activities that draw visitors and expand economic development and tourism-related job creation throughout Maryland.
Organizations receiving awards include museums, parks, educational organizations, and other entities that steward and celebrate the unique cultural and natural resources located within Maryland’s Heritage Areas.
Grantees in the Four Rivers Heritage Area include:
- Capital Grant to Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park, Inc., for “Restoration of the Skipjack Wilma Lee,” $34,841
- Capital Grant to Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park, Inc., for “Phase I Improvements at the Park Campus,” $95,954
- Non-Capital Grant to Captain Avery Museum, for “From Vision to Reality,” $10,000
- Non-Capital Grant to Historic Annapolis, Inc., for “History of Annapolis Exhibit: Fabrication and Installation,” $50,000
- Capital Grant to Historic Annapolis, Inc., for “William Paca Garden Accessibility: Planning Phase,” $8,000
- Capital grant to London Town Foundation, for “Educational Pavilion Construction,” $100,000
- Capital Grant to Preservation Maryland, for “Stabilization of the Captain William Burtis House,” $100,000
- Non-Capital Grant to Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, for “Sellman-Kirkpatrick-Howitt House: Museum Exhibit Planning – Phase II: Completion of Design,” $50,000
MHAA oversees Maryland’s 13 locally-administered, state-certified Heritage Areas. Every county in Maryland and Baltimore City includes at least part of a state-Certified area within their boundaries. Heritage Areas foster broad public-private partnerships to preserve and enhance the best of Maryland’s historic sites and towns, unspoiled natural landscapes, and enduring traditions. These tangible links to both place and the past encourage residents to recognize they have a special piece of the American story to treasure and share with others, and that in doing so they contribute to the economic well-being of Maryland’s communities.
Maryland’s Heritage Areas contribute to the state’s economy by saving and enhancing the places that attract tourists who focus their travels on historic sites, museums, cultural activities, or the natural beauty of Maryland’s Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay coastal areas and unspoiled scenery of mountain Maryland. Every dollar of MHAA funding has a return on investment of $4.45. MHAA grants generate $19.8 million in state and local taxes and create 3,146 jobs annually.
MHAA is an independent unit in the Executive Branch of government administered by the Maryland Department of Planning. Since its creation in 1996, it has awarded more than $46 million in grants and helped to leverage more than $1.62 billion in non-state funding for heritage tourism projects and activities in Maryland’s 13 Certified Heritage Areas.
See the full list of the Maryland Heritage Area’s Program 114 grantees.
Learn more about the Maryland Heritage Areas Program and the state’s Certified Heritage Areas.
Congratulations to our local grant awardees!